Crash Twinsanity
| director = | producer = Kirk Scott | designer = | programmer = | artist = | writer = Jordan Reichek | composer = Spiralmouth | series = Crash Bandicoot | platforms = PlayStation 2, Xbox | released = |EU|October 8, 2004}} | genre = Platformer | modes = Single-player }} Crash Twinsanity is a platformer video game, developed by Traveller's Tales Oxford Studio and published by Vivendi Universal Games for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox. The PlayStation 2 version was re-released in the three-disc "Crash Bandicoot Action Pack" compilation (alongside Crash Nitro Kart and Crash Tag Team Racing) in the United States on June 12, 2007, and in Europe on July 20, 2007. A GameCube version was planned before being cancelled for undisclosed reasons. Twinsanity is the eleventh installment in the Crash Bandicoot series and the fifth game in the main franchise. The game's story takes place three years after the events of Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex and follows the main protagonist and main antagonist of the series, Crash Bandicoot and Doctor Neo Cortex, working together to stop "the Evil Twins", a duo of mutant parrots that Cortex owned as a child, from destroying the Wumpa Islands. Twinsanity garnered mixed reviews, with praise being particularly directed towards its visuals, humor, soundtrack by the a capella group, Spiralmouth, and Lex Lang's portrayal of Cortex, but being criticized for its short length, uninspired level design, and glitches. The game is often viewed among the series' fans as one of the best post-Naughty Dog Crash games, with fans being particularly interested in the game's cut content and what the final product could've been with more development time. As such, the game has garnered a dedicated cult following. Gameplay The gameplay of Crash Twinsanity is in a free-roaming style, although the linear path based gameplay of the previous installments occasionally reappears. The game's plot is pushed forward by going through levels. Gems littered throughout the levels can be collected to unlock extras such as concept art. Crash is occasionally accompanied by a second character, in this case his nemesis Doctor Neo Cortex. Crash can use Cortex as a hammer, perform a spin attack while holding on to him, throw him across gaps to activate switches, and can even use him as a snowboard dubbed the 'HumiliSkate.' While most of the time Crash could happily swing Cortex to his doom and have him return safely, in other sections of the game, Crash must clear a path for a disoriented Cortex to prevent him from blundering into deadly obstacles. In the earlier levels, Crash and Cortex will get drawn into a RollerBrawl. The player must steer the scrapping pair around obstacles to reach their goal. In some areas of the game, such as the Academy of Evil, Cortex will go solo, armed with a raygun and a limited amount of ammo. Another controllable character is Cortex's niece, Nina Cortex. She fights through the levels using her mechanical arms and wall-climbing abilities. At the very last part of the game, Crash goes into the robot Mecha-Bandicoot. He is the final playable character and can fire rockets. Plot Three years after being defeated by Crash Bandicoot, Doctor Neo Cortex returns to the Wumpa Islands to exact revenge on Crash and paralyzes Coco to keep her from interfering as with previous attempts. Cortex dons a Coco-inspired disguise that lures Crash to the bay where he forces Crash into battling his gigantic mech, the Mecha-Bandicoot controlled by Dr. N. Gin. After destroying the Mecha-Bandicoot, Cortex becomes enraged and assaults Crash, throwing them down deep into the mining shafts where Cortex originally found the first Power Crystals. The two are forced to work together to escape the mine before it caves in due to large ant-like beings invading the area in search of crates filled with Wumpa Fruit. After narrowly escaping, Crash and Cortex encounter a pair of odd, anthropomorphic turquoise parrots who proclaim themselves as "The Evil Twins", who have come to destroy the Wumpa Islands. They threaten Cortex with stealing his brain and scare him enough to make him flee. Cortex pleas for Crash's help and finds himself being attacked by bees, which Crash helps in guiding him through a series of traps created by the native tribesmen and their leader, Papu Papu for hunting purposes. Cortex runs into Papu Papu, who then punishes Cortex by tying him to a totem pole with a Power Crystal resting on the top. Crash breaks Cortex out and narrowly escapes from the angry tribe when he meets with a local Wumpa fruit farmer. The farmer has troubles with large worms eating his saplings and is promising the duo a Power Crystal if they can help get rid of the creatures. Cortex instead paralyzes the farmer and steals the crystal, but are forced to get rid of the worms anyway in order to continue on from the farm. The Evil Twins once again attack the duo, this time bringing about a totem deity to destroy them. It is learned that they come from the Tenth Dimension and that they are also siphoning the good traits from the First Dimension to leave it dark and desolate with their machine called the 'Vice-Versa Reversa Ray'. Cortex concocts a plan that he and Crash travel to his new lair near the Antarctic Circle to use the 'Psychetron,' a machine that will allow them travel to the Tenth Dimension. Crash and Cortex attempt to enter Cortex's Iceberg Lair through the front entrance, but the remote key refuses to work and they are forced to go the long way through a cavernous glacier filled with machinery. They inadvertently free Uka Uka in the process, who is enraged by Cortex's continuous failures and attacks them using black magic to form into an ice creature. Uku Uka is convinced by his brother Aku Aku to help him defeat the Twins, however, they are easily defeated by the evil duo and Crash and Cortex are ambushed by more robotic ant creatures sent by the Twins. After beating them back and learning that Cortex is responsible for the Twins' rein of terror (As well as learning the Twins own a generous amount of treasure), the Aku-Uka brothers reason out that if they deliver Cortex to the Twins, they may just spare the Wumpa Islands. Despite this, Crash instead decides to work with Cortex and defeat the Twins and steal their riches, influenced by Cortex's plight. They reach the Psychetron only to find they do not have enough power in order to make the quantum leap. Cortex begins to lament but then realizes that N. Gin owns a battleship which can take them to another continent to find more Power Crystals. They reach as far as an observation deck, but cannot make it on foot in time before N. Gin sets sail. Crash gets an idea and uses Cortex as an impromptu snowboard to comedic effect. After wiping out, they form a large snowball which destroys Dingodile's winter home. Among the wreckage, Dingodile catches wind of Cortex's plot to steal the Twins treasure and goes to tell several other adversaries of Crash's, including Doctor Nitrus Brio and Doctor Nefarious Tropy. Crash enters the battleship alone and infiltrates the airborne crow's nest where he is forced to battle N. Gin as he launches rockets and TNT crates at the marsupial. After destroying the crow's nest, it crash lands into the battleship and sends Crash down a hatch just outside the galley kitchen. The battleship chef, Rusty, chases after Crash in an attempt to use his meat for recipes. Crash escapes, though is inadvertently attacked by N. Gin, who lands directly on a TNT crate surrounded by the entire surplus of explosive crates. It explodes, causing the ship to sink and launch Crash onto a far away ice sheet where N. Brio and N. Tropy attempt to get info out of Crash on the whereabouts of the treasure. This attempt fails due to Crash's initial muteness and N. Brio transforms into a giant frog-like monster to attack Crash. After the two doctors' defeat, Crash returns to the iceberg lair with Cortex and they get to the Psychetron with Crash's newly collected crystals found on the battleship. Cortex begins to initiate the Pyschetron with their newfound power supply, but encounters Coco, who believes he's kidnapped Crash. Coco kicks Cortex, which sends the two crystals he had into the machine and damaging it and paralyzing Coco again in the process. In order to repair it, Cortex needs to find the one person who helped him build it, Nina Cortex, his mischievous, cyborg niece. Cortex and Crash travel to Madame Amberly's Academy of Evil, a private school for the rich and evil, and make their way into the school via the boiler room. Dingodile has also made his way to the school and interrogates Cortex to no avail. He then duels with Crash and is subsequently knocked out, not to be seen again. Crash and Cortex discreetly make their way through the gloomy halls of the school and find Nina, convincing her to leave the private school and help them fix the Psychetron. After escaping from a floating school bus and encountering Madame Amberly, it is revealed that the Evil Twins are actually Cortex's former pet parrots Victor and Moritz, mutated by the 'reverse-radiation' present in the Tenth Dimension. Once Nina fixes the Psychetron (by banging on the control panel), she, Crash and Cortex travel to the Tenth Dimension, finding it to be a bizarre and gloomy mirror universe of Earth. Evil Crash, the Tenth Dimension's version of Crash, kidnaps Nina and takes her to his desolate home on Twinsanity Island. Crash is forced once again to use Cortex as a snowboard and they corner Evil Crash. Cortex valiantly sacrifices himself in Nina's stead which leads to a chase scene. After they escape Evil Crash and rescue Nina, they make their way to the Twins' compound overrun with their ant-like minions. Along the way, they find the fabled treasure and also discover the various villains from before, N. Brio, N. Tropy and N. Gin, had made it there first. Cortex shows disinterest in the treasure and scolds the villains for attempting to steal it, claiming that Spyro the Dragon may want his stolen gems back. Spyro punishes the villains by breathing fire at them while Crash, Nina and Cortex carry on to find the Twins. Nina and Neo work together to weaken the Twins' Mecha-Parrot by destroying its weapons, while Crash ultimately defeats the Evil Twins by using a repaired Mecha-Bandicoot to destroy the Mecha-Parrot. They flee to Evil Crash's home only to be devoured by Evil Crash himself. After returning to their dimension, Cortex tries using the Psychetron to get rid of Crash, claiming his existence was a constant reminder of his worst mistakes, but it once again malfunctions and instead sends Cortex into Crash's brain where multiple miniature personifications of Crash dance for Cortex's amusement and chagrin. In the NTSC releases of Crash Twinsanity, there is a secret cutscene only watchable after the player collects all the colored gems throughout the levels and open-world areas. In it, Crash and Cortex have been undergoing dual therapy. As the day's exercise, their therapist (Never seen on screen, only heard) asks Cortex to closes his eyes and fall backwards for Crash to catch as their first trust exercise. Cortex at first does not agree with the exercise as he does not like, let alone trust Crash and also has basophobia. Eventually, he decides to go through with the exercise, however Crash is temporarily distracted by a fallen apple, diverting his attention from the trust exercise and causing Cortex to fall onto the floor. Cortex then grumbles: "Oh, how I hate bandicoots..." before falling onto his back dizzily as Crash consumes the apple. Development After work on The Wrath of Cortex was completed, Traveller's Tales' newly acquired Oxford studio began working on concepts for a Crash Team Racing sequel. Development of this title was transferred to Vicarious Visions early in development, which would later become Crash Nitro Kart, and the TT Oxford team began working on a new Crash platform game. The working title of the project was Crash Evolution, as it was intended that the game would move the series away from the linear structure from previous Crash games towards a more free-roaming style that was popular at the time in games such as Jak and Daxter. A lot of effort was initially spent on a sci-fi setting not usually found in platform games, with unusual environments such as a level set in a Gaudí-inspired greenhouse and one on the floor of a dried-up ocean. Development was rebooted after a year and the direction of the game was adjusted to focus more on the humorous relationship between Crash and Cortex, while the setting was moved back towards the more cartoony environments of previous games. A large amount of planned content was removed from the final game due to time constraints; concept art and FMVs showcasing these ideas are present in the final version of Twinsanity as a reward for collecting gems. Crash Twinsanity marks the debut of Lex Lang as the voice of series antagonist Doctor Neo Cortex. When Lang was called in for an audition to replace previous voice actor Clancy Brown, the voice director described Doctor Cortex to him and had him listen to signature samples of Brown's performance. When Lang was given the freedom to develop the character with the director, they eventually created a depiction of Cortex that was "master evil with a bit of a childish feminine side that leaks out in his tirades" that had everyone laughing at the lines and the character. As a result, that of Cortex stuck. Other voice roles include Mel Winkler as Aku Aku and a tribesman, Michael Ensign as Doctor Nefarious Tropy and a tribesman, Susan Silo as Madame Amberley and Nina Cortex, Debi Derryberry as Coco Bandicoot and Neo Cortex as an eight-year-old, Alex Fernandez as Uka Uka and Farmer Ernest, Dwight Schultz as Dingodile, Rusty Walrus, a tribesman and Papu Papu, and Quinton Flynn as Doctor N. Gin, Victor, Moritz and a penguin. The full-motion videos of Crash Twinsanity were created by Red Eye Studios, who previously created the full-motion videos for Crash Nitro Kart. The soundtrack of Crash Twinsanity was composed, performed, arranged and produced by an a cappella band Spiralmouth, while Gabriel Mann recorded and mixed the soundtrack at Asylum Recording Studios in Los Angeles. Reception (PS2) 64/100 | 1UP = B | EGM = 3.5/10 | EuroG = 7/10 | GI = 6/10 | GamePro = 7.5/10 | GSpot = (Xbox) 7.4/10 (PS2) 7.3/10 | GameZone = (Xbox) 7.5/10 (PS2) 6.9/10 | IGN = 7.7/10 | OPM = 5/10 | OXM = 7.3/10 | PSM = 6/10 | TX = 7.5/10 | rev1 = Play Magazine | rev1Score = 8.3/10 }} Crash Twinsanity received mixed or average reviews from critics upon release. Play Magazine declared that "Traveller's Tales has delivered a 60 frame/s cartoon epic without sacrificing expanse, dwarfing boss encounters or vivid effects by skillfully balancing model and environment integrity with performance." James B. Pringle of IGN said that "Publisher Vivendi Universal and developer Traveller's Tales have infused so much humor and likeability into the game that you will literally laugh out loud. You'll look forward to defeating each boss not just because you're that much closer to beating the game, but to witness some of the best in-game dialogue and funniest voice acting around." Andrew Wooldridge of 1UP.com said the game "is funny, fun to play, and is a definite improvement on the claustrophobic linear levels of games past". Chris Stead of GamePro described the game as "great fun for our gaming youth and a humorous piece of nostalgia for veterans keen to spank their bandicoots, one last time". Brent Soboleski of TeamXbox crowned the game as "one of the best Crash titles to have been released since its earliest inception on home consoles, and its creative use of combining past enemies as partners is what gives Twinsanity a new lease on life". Nick Valentino of GameZone said that the game "rises above the game's original roots to bring a game that's both refreshingly humorous as well as downright enjoyable". However, Louis Bedigian of the same site described the game as "double the insanity for all you psychopath-loving gamers out there, but it's half the fun for gamers". Ryan Davis of GameSpot concluded that "it's a little rough around the edges, and it doesn't break new ground for 3D platformers, but it gives the series the shot in the arm that Wrath of Cortex failed to, and what it does, it does pretty well". Official Xbox Magazine declared that "even if you're frustrated by dying on a jump for the 50th time, you'll still think it's funny as hell." Kristan Reed of Eurogamer said that "the gameplay variation is there for all to see, and when it hits the mark it — believe it or not — is every bit as enjoyable as the very best the genre has to offer, with some true high points to look back on." PSM Magazine praised the graphics and controls but criticized the level design, saying that it was "designed to kill the player in as many cheap ways as possible". A reviewer for Game Informer finished with "While it pains me to say this, maybe Crash should make like the entire cast of Blossom and disappear." Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine described the game as "a bummer" and "a tragic tale of missed opportunities, as a funny, engaging platformer shines through the me-too muck". Electronic Gaming Monthly decided that "the funny writing (courtesy of an ex-''Ren & Stimpy'' scribe) can't save this uninspired rehash of antiquated Crash antics with lackluster visuals." Lex Lang's portrayal of Doctor Cortex in Crash Twinsanity was singled out for praise among reviewers. James B. Pringle of IGN noted that the game "shows a side of the evil doctor that we haven't seen before" and, while describing the game's dialogue as "solid," said that "Cortex is the one you want to keep listening to." Ryan Davis of GameSpot analyzed "Cortex's constant creeping and sniveling" as "a great showcase of the kinds of neuroses that might cause one to gain an interest in evil science," and added that "the strained grandeur of Cortex's speech" was the most "accomplished" voice work in the game. Gordy Wheeler of Worth Playing considered Cortex "having abuse heaped on him like a classic Warner Brothers character" to be "the most fun part of this game," and went on to heavily praise Lang's vocal performance, writing that "just about all of the game's best lines come from Cortex, and his voice actor brings it home solidly. He may be on the way to being my favorite mad scientist ever and that's a heck of a feat. Someone get his voice actor into another role RIGHT NOW. I want more of him." Brent Soboleski of TeamXbox believed that Cortex was "probably the best and most entertaining character of the game since players get a completely different look at his personality this time through," and felt that he was "very funny and his sarcasm and evil attitude are a perfect match for his personality." Nick Valentino of GameZone felt that "the biggest laughs, believe it or not, come from Doctor Neo Cortex who comes off as nutty in the best possible way. He's filled with witty observations and often pokes fun of his past encounters with Crash." He later remarked that "the twisted Doctor is one hilarious bloke and his dialogue just makes him all the more likeable." Future and cancelled sequel According to Keith Webb, one of the main artists for Crash Twinsanity, after the development of the game, Traveller's Tales Oxford studio had plans for a sequel, which was ultimately not accepted by Vivendi Universal. The plot would have centered around Crash getting sucked into various TV shows (such as a wild west show, or an old black-and-white cartoon) by an invention created by Dr. Cortex, similar to the Gex series. The game was going to have over 25 levels, one of them being a hospital drama level that would have had enemies holding needles and Crash would ride through the hospital halls on a stretcher. Webb also mentioned a level with Rusty Walrus hosting a cooking show, ending up with a chase sequence, similar to Crash's last encounter with him. This idea for a sequel was cancelled alongside the studio's closure, and development of further Crash Bandicoot games was transferred to Radical Entertainment, leading to Crash of the Titans. Webb would later state in an interview in 2012 congratulating them on the large success of the game. In the letter, Webb stated that if they would ever be interested in developing a Twinsanity remake, he and a handful of previous developers would gladly return to work on it. As a bonus, he added a piece of artwork containing all the characters within Twinsanity. References External links * Category:2004 video games Category:Crash Bandicoot games Category:Platform games Category:PlayStation 2 games Category:Xbox games Category:Cancelled GameCube games Category:Video games developed in the United Kingdom Category:3D platform games Category:Traveller's Tales games Category:Universal Interactive games Category:Sierra Entertainment games Category:Video games set in Australia Category:Parallel universes (video games) Category:Single-player video games Category:Crossover video games